A scathing new report on racism in the Canadian Armed Forces says the military is not doing enough to detect and prevent white supremacists and other extremists from infiltrating its ranks.

The report, issued by Defense Minister Anita Anand, holds the military responsible for failing to act on dozens of previous studies and reviews on racism in the ranks over the past two decades.

The report comes after a year-long review by a committee of retired Armed Forces members, and follows a series of incidents linking some military personnel to violent extremism and hate groups, including white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

It also coincides with concerns about the growing disconnect between the composition of the Canadian military, whose ranks are primarily made up of white men, and the rest of the country’s population.

White men constitute 71 percent of Canadian Armed Forces members but only 39 percent of the country’s civilian workforce. The report notes that Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, and women are significantly underrepresented in the Canadian Armed Forces.

The committee describes the suspected presence of extremists in the military as an "urgent ethical, social, and operational issue," with these members posing a threat to unit cohesion and Canadians’ trust in the institution.

It found that despite adopting a zero-tolerance approach, efforts to identify extremists were "piecemeal and ineffective," and the extremists themselves were more skilled at avoiding detection.

Anand said on Monday that the government has allocated over $200 million to help change the military culture but has not put forward any specific new measures.

The issue of right-wing extremism in the Canadian military first emerged publicly in 2017 after an incident in Halifax where a group of sailors associated with the Proud Boys disrupted an Indigenous ceremony.

A later military intelligence report linked dozens of Armed Forces members to extremist groups, warning that these organizations are actively recruiting or attempting to infiltrate the military to gain training, experience, and equipment.

In a high-profile case, a former reserve soldier from Manitoba who belonged to a neo-Nazi group in the United States was sentenced to nine years in prison for what investigators described as a violent plot to ignite a "race war."

Anand acknowledged these failures and said the time for action has finally come, pointing to the establishment of several working groups and other bodies as well as new mechanisms for monitoring and reporting abuses and discrimination among different races and ranks.

This not only includes addressing racism in the ranks but also the report by retired Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour on military sexual misconduct and a separate report last year on reforming the military justice system.

She said, "As Minister of National Defence, I am deeply committed to building institutions where Canadians of all backgrounds are engaged and welcomed."